The invention relates generally to circuit board connectors and, more particularly, to a double ended guide pin assembly for mechanically interconnecting circuit boards.
At least some electronic systems, such as some computer systems, and in particular, rack and panel computer systems, include a primary circuit board, such as a backplane board or card, connected to one or more peripheral circuit boards, called daughter cards. In order to save space on the circuit boards, it is common to mount the backplane boards and daughter cards at a right angle to each other. Electrical connectors establish electrical communication between various daughter cards via a backplane card. Typically, one or more guide pins are used to mechanically link the circuit boards together. The guide pins provide preliminary alignment or preliminary guidance between the circuit boards so the circuit boards are positioned to facilitate proper mating of the electrical connectors. The guide pins may also provide load carrying capability between the circuit boards as well as keying and electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection.
In another technique for saving board space, a feed-through type connector is used to mount components to both sides of the circuit board. In a feed-through connection, alignment of the components must be addressed on both sides of the circuit board. In at least some double ended guide pin designs, the guide pin includes multiple components and are prone to misalignment between the ends of the guide pins on opposite sides of the circuit board. Additionally, such guide pins typically do not provide keying capabilities on both sides of the circuit board.
A need remains for a double ended guide pin that addresses the above mentioned shortcomings as well as other concerns in the prior art.